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The early rate of COVID-19 vaccine inoculation to the people of Michigan – already lagging behind most other states – underestimates the number of doses of the vaccine on the shelves of hospitals, pharmacies and health departments government.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged on Tuesday that the 520,150 distributed vaccine doses posted on its website do not include the 160,000 doses sent by the CDC to CVS and Walgreens to vaccinate elderly residents of homes in Michigan retirement.
Tuesday’s immunization report showed 140,245 doses of the COVID vaccine had been administered, less than 27% of the vaccines shipped to Michigan by the federal government since mass immunizations began three weeks ago.
But when the doses for nursing homes are added to the total, the percentage of people who have received the vaccine drops to 20.6 percent of the amount of vaccine available. In Tuesday’s state report, the vaccine surplus rose to 539,875, about 140,000 more doses than a day ago.
The public health agency acknowledged the undercoverage of vaccines distributed on Tuesday after Crain inquired about Monday’s MDHHS report indicating that 7,090 doses were being administered in nursing homes, but no corresponding data showing vaccine doses distributed to retirement homes, CVS or Walgreens. The two pharmacies in the chain immunize residents and staff of long-term care facilities in partnership with the federal government.
Michigan’s struggle to quickly distribute and administer Pfizer and Moderna vaccines comes as the CDC reports the state’s per capita immunization rate is the seventh lowest in the country, ahead of only Alabama, the Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, and North Carolina.
MDHHS spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin said the state agency plans to add vaccine doses distributed to nursing homes to its daily vaccine data dashboard “in the future and they will be distributed in their own category “.
CVS and Walgreens take care of the planning, distribution and administration of the vaccine for residents and nursing home staff. Rival national chains began administering Moderna’s vaccine to residents and staff at nursing homes on December 28.
Melissa Samuel, president of the Health Care Association of Michigan, revealed the figure of 160,000 in an interview with Crain’s Tuesday.
“We were told there were around 160,000 or more doses that went to CVS and Walgreens,” Samuel said. “The goal of the State, CVS and Walgreens is to complete the first round of doses in three weeks. The first week was slowed down a bit by the vacation week. We will speed up quickly.”
Vaccinations in nursing homes will have sped up quickly so that the 160,000 doses are given in three weeks. Currently, CVS and Walgreens administer approximately 1,000 doses per day in nursing homes in Michigan.
Tuesday’s state immunization report showed that the number of vaccines given in nursing homes and other long-term facilities increased from 911 to 8,006.
This is equivalent to 5 percent of the nursing home vaccine that was used on Monday. Nursing homes have been prioritized for the vaccine as they have been associated with 38.6% of the 12,867 deaths from COVID-19 in Michigan and 7.6% of the 500,000 infections.
HCAM, which represents approximately 440 nursing homes and assisted living centers, has received state and federal approval to only award Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to its members’ facilities. Pfizer’s vaccine requires ultra-cold freezers, equipment that hospitals and the county health department stocked before the FDA approved last month of the two COVID vaccines.
“It was a very good decision by the state,” said Samuel. “We need to immunize the most vulnerable population.”
CVS and Walgreens are planning all nursing homes in the state for in-house vaccination clinics, Samuel said.
“I haven’t heard any issues with the planning or the dosage.” Said Samuel. “Other states have had problems, but are not aware of them here.”
Representatives for CVS and Walgreens did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Samuel had no percentage of residents or staff vaccinated.
“I currently think the percentage of residents receiving doses is very high. I am not surprised to know who they are and where they are. They want guarantees of connection with their families, ”she said. “Staff, some are reluctant to get vaccinated. It’s a wait-and-see approach. So these percentages are lower than for residents.”
Samuel said the big challenge right now is to increase the education of residents and staff so that they understand that vaccines are safe and effective.
“I am confident that the process is working and the clinics have been scheduled and we will increase these percentages,” she said.
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